Counterweight Platform

Fatah leader urges PA not to resolve Gaza electricity crisis

Palestinians burn firewood to keep warm due to the shortage of electricity in Gaza [Apaimages]

A leaked phone call revealed Fatah’s secretary in central Gaza, Saeed Abu Musbah, asked PA security chief Majed Faraj not to interfere and resolve the electricity issue in Gaza. Faraj responded by promising that the PA will not help resolve the crisis.

The Gaza Strip has been suffering from a severe electricity crisis for years now, which has worsened in the past three months. Two million Gazans receive a daily average of three to four hours of electricity a day but this was reduced to 45-60 minutes after PA President Mahmoud Abbas reduced Gaza’s electricity to reduce the amount of money it pays for their supply. Abbas’ decision to cut electricity is being seen as an attempt to cripple Hamas.

The Energy and Natural Resources Authority in Gaza said yesterday that the crisis is due to the PA’s insistence on imposing full taxes on fuel at the only power plant in Gaza. This raises the price by about three times which makes it too expensive to buy fuel to operate the power plant.

When fuel reserves from Qatar and Turkey are depleted the power plant will stop working completely. The PA is refusing to remove the tax it collects on fuel from Gaza’s power plant.